Adi says, "If you wish to be able to go back to your loved ones at home, then I suggest that you align yourselves with neither Gods nor Demons. You be your own boss. Be your own person!"
Not many agreed with this. Someone shouted, "He is trying to get us killed as usual. This time, they are just trying to pose as our well wishers! Get them!"
All the players rush at us. Most of them would have heard the call for our lives through the hologram. I tell all the others- "We don't want to kill them. We want them to stay alive. I don't want unnecessary death in my ledger today."
The twelve million players in here are out for my life. They start firing off many different attacks at us. The sky is filled with the attacks of million players aimed at us. Bhishma lifts his bow and in a single shot, the entire volley of attacks disappears. I summon my swords and let lightning course through m veins. Dharmendra does the same with his Gadha. Adi is already equipped with his bow and quiver and is shooting arrows into the shoulders of the players. Rahaas is moving through the shadows and taking down players from under. Bhishma, Arjuna and Karna are dealing with a volley of attacks that are coming at us from air that never seem to end.
Amidst the chaos, Bhishma asks me, "Have you forsaken the Gods?"
I kick away some player and answer, "No. I have not forsaken the Gods. Just left their side. You had never forsaken the Pandavas. You just weren't on their side."
Bhishma hmms as he shoots another arrow at the incoming volley. He says, "It'll be a while before we can mobilize the forces of Hastinapura. It will be difficult to subdue so many people. It will be even more difficult considering that you don't want them to die. This is the last time, I shall let these players live. The next time something like this happens, no one survives!"
That is not good to hear. Effectively, the next time around, Bhishma will be against us. That is more dangerous than anything else I can think of right now. I slash the arms of a player who got too close to killing me. A large horn blew from the middle of the camp. That horn is a horn declaring the beginning of war. All the players start regrouping. The archers fall back and the cavalry and infantry come ahead. The elephants are right behind the infantry. Another horn blares into existence. The spearmen start banging the ground with their spears in a rythmic manner such that everyone is doing it in the same speed. The swordsmen are banging their swords to their shields. It is unnerving and nerve wracking to see this display of sheer numbers.
A high level player rises from the many masses. Ayush- Dharmendra's guild's deputy-commander-in-chief. He is level 343. He says, "MARCH AHEAD!"
Aditya's POV,
This day has gone from eh, fine, to bloody hell, this is bad! We arrived here to receive immense hatred from the people. We faced off a stern faced Bhishma. Then faced off Dharmendra who almost killed Charles. And now, we are literally in the middle of a war. Outnumbered twelve million to seven, our prospects are not looking so good right now. Luckily, I stocked out on arrows for the Mahabharata event and I have 15 million in my inventory. But I doubt that many arrows will be sufficient for today. The moment Ayush ordered everyone to charge ahead against us, hundreds of cavalry men started coming at my direction. I started firing arrows into their shoulders or upper chests making sure not to hit their heart. Hard to do so, when they are so provocative. Some arrows make it past the three AtiMaharathis here. Those are short range attacks. One of them strikes my forearm when I am pulling the string on my bow. My arm wrack with pain as I struggle against time to remove the arrow before some cavalryman beheads me. I remove the arrow and duck just in time to avoid inevitable death. I fire arrows into both of his shoulders and fire one on his horse's leg causing it to fall over. I feel a large force on my back as someone hits me with their Gadha. It's still cavalry. They are about to swarm around me. I take out another arrow from my quiver. It pains my back to do that. I stand up straight and fire the arrows into the cavalryman's shoulders and on his horse's legs. I continue firing arrows such that they are going to cause the people to fall over. i fire one more arrow into the guy closest to me. I put my hand behind me for more arrows but my quiver is empty. I need to refill but I have no time to do so. Refilling takes fifteen seconds. I have a maximum of two. I look around me and see my arrows lodges in many people on the ground. I roll over to the bodies. I pull out arrows from them and fire them into the others. My mistake- the people are still alive. They are just on the ground being unable to move their shoulder joints because of some well placed arrows. Now that I removed those arrows, those shoulders are free. While still in pain one of them stabs me with his sword in the gut. I get up from there as I pull out the sword. I shoot the sword into someone. I tell the others, "Cover Me! I need fifteen seconds to reload"
No sooner did I finish saying that than Charles came in front to block those trying to get to me. He says, "I'll keep the forte here!"
[Mythological titbits: Last time around, the Pandavas and Kauravas had finished their studies and payed their Gurudakshina. Today, we shall learn about Karna and his relation with the Pandavas and Kauravas. Karna first met them at an archery demonstration. Everyone participating in the demonstration had to give their caste and standing in society. Duryodhana met Karna for the first time here. Duryodhana saw that Karna's talent was perhaps equivalent to Arjuna's if not greater. He instantly befriended Karna. Karna who had faced a whole lot of Racism despite being highly talented was happy that for once, someone was acknowledging him. Karna and Duryodhana became fast friends. Duryodhana initially befriended Karna for the sae of personal gain so that he would have someone who was equivalent to Arjuna on his side. Some believe that there was never true friendship between the two. Others believe that eventually, Duryodhana became Karna's true friend. Personally I like to believe the second version. No one truly knows what happened as the original version by Vyasa, which was written apparently within years of the ending of the Maabharatha and the death of the Pandavas, is lost. The versions available to us has had three millennia of changes done to it and we just can't be sure. I'll let you believe what you want. I just wish to inform you about the happenings of the Mahabharatha. Regardless, that day, when Karna was to announce his standing in the economy and his social status, Duryodhana did it for him. He said that Karna was a non-king but he was willing to anoint Karna as king of Anga, which is how Karna gained the name Angaraja. For the ceremony where he was to be named king, his father who was a shudra and a suta-charioteer, had arrived to see him. At seeing this, the Pandavas ridiculed Karna for being from a lower caste. This cemented hostile relationships between Karna and the Pandavas.]